Review: Specials by Scott Westerfeld

Title: Specials
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Rating: ★★★★ (4/5 Stars)
Hardcover, 384 Pages
Published May 2006
Book #3 in the Uglies Series

Before I even start this review, here's the summary:

"'Special Circumstances': The words have sent chills down Tally's spine since her days as a repellent, rebellious ugly. Back then Specials were a sinister rumor -- frighteningly beautiful, dangerously strong, breathtakingly fast. Ordinary pretties might live their whole lives without meeting a Special. But Tally's never been ordinary.

And now she's been turned into one of them: a superamped fighting machine, engineered to keep the uglies down and the pretties stupid.

The strength, the speed, and the clarity and focus of her thinking feel better than anything Tally can remember. Most of the time. One tiny corner of her heart still remembers something more.

Still, it's easy to tune that out -- until Tally's offered a chance to stamp out the rebels of the New Smoke permanently. It all comes down to one last choice: listen to that tiny, faint heartbeat, or carry out the mission she's programmed to complete. Either way, Tally's world will never be the same."

I'm going to be completely honest: I was glued to this book. It seems more and more like Tally Youngblood can't get enough trouble, and sometimes the way she kept stirring things up frustrated me, but in total, I tore through this book at superhuman speed solely because I kept falling into the Just-One-More-Chapter trap.

And also to be completely honest, (*Major spoiler alert!*) It felt like my heart was ripped into a million pieces when Zane died. As much grief over him Shay gave Tally, I felt that he truly loved her and wanted to stay alive with her to see the revolution.

And everyone also keeps telling Tally that Zane's death isn't her fault, because the rebellion would have happened with or without her help. In my opinion, I'm not really sure how I feel about that. Sure, the rebellion still could've happened, but Tally definitely sped things up a great deal.

Of course, Shay running away and Dr. Cable forcing Tally to go after her were both two key points in the beginning of the rebellion, which happened in the first book in this series, Uglies.

So, who's really to blame? Tally, Dr. Cable, Shay, or all three?

Or, of course, David and the Smoke?

Sigh. So many unanswered questions. I guess we'll find out in the last book, Extras, then.

In the end, all that there's really left to say is that Westerfeld never fails to make awesome books. I love this series. I really, really do. And as I've mentioned before, it's hard for me to get attached to a series.